Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 01-401
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. EST
Media contact: 691-5902 Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Work Experience of the Population in 2000
A total of 148.6 million persons worked at some point during 2000, an
increase of about 1 million persons from the prior year, according to the
annual survey of work experience released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor. The number of individuals who experienced
some unemployment during the year continued to decline. About 12.3 million
individuals were in this category in 2000, down about 800,000 from 1999.
These data are from the March 2001 supplement to the Current Population
Survey (CPS), a monthly survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional information about this annual
supplement, including concepts and definitions, is provided in the Technical
Note.
Highlights from the 2000 data include:
--The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years
old and over that worked at some point during the year, 70.4 percent,
was essentially unchanged from 1999. This proportion had been trending
upward over the past three decades.
--The proportion of workers employed full time, year round continued to
increase, rising by 1.1 percentage points to 67.0 percent, the highest
since the series began in 1950.
--The "work-experience unemployment rate" continued to decline for most
of the major demographic groups.
Persons with Employment
From 1999 to 2000, the proportion of the civilian noninstitutional
population 16 years old and over that worked at some point during the year
was essentially unchanged at 70.4 percent.
Among those with work experience, 76.4 percent were employed year round
(either full or part time), compared with 62.3 percent in 1970. Full-year
employment among women continued to increase, reaching 72.2 percent,
21.5 percentage points higher than in 1970. The percentage of men employed
year round increased to 80.1 percent in 2000 from 78.9 percent in 1999. The
proportion of workers employed full time increased by 0.9 percentage point
for women and was unchanged for men from 1999 to 2000. (See table 1.)
Persons with Unemployment
Of the 150 million persons who worked or looked for work at some time
in 2000, 12.3 million experienced some unemployment during the year. The
"work-experience unemployment rate" in 2000 was 8.2 percent, 0.6 percentage
point lower than in 1999 and the lowest since the series began in 1958.
(See table 3.)
The "work-experience unemployment rate" for blacks, 12.1 percent, was
higher than the rate for either Hispanics (10.5 percent) or whites
(7.6 percent). Men had higher rates than did women in each of these three
groups, but this was especially true among blacks. The "work-experience
unemployment rate" for black men (14.0 percent) was much higher than that
for black women (10.5 percent). Black men were the only major group for
whom the "work-experience unemployment rate" increased from 1999 to 2000.
(See table 4.)
The median number of weeks of unemployment in 2000 was 12.6, unchanged
from the prior year. Of the 10.8 million persons who had worked during the
year and also had experienced unemployment, 28.4 percent had two or more
spells of joblessness.
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| Revisions to Work Experience Data |
| |
| On November 6, BLS issued this news release on the Work Experience |
| of the Population in 2000. Data in the release are derived from the |
| Census Bureau's March 2001 Current Population Survey supplement. |
| Subsequent to the November 6 release, the Census Bureau discovered a |
| weighting error in the supplement microdata file and reissued it. The|
| error primarily affected the estimates for persons under the age of |
| 16; thus, there was a negligible impact on the information contained |
| in the work experience news release, which provides data for persons |
| age 16 and over. For example, the number of people with work experi- |
| ence during the year increased by 5,000 (less than .003 percent) using|
| the revised file. Because the differences in the estimates were so |
| small, the Bureau of Labor Statistics decided not to reissue this |
| Work Experience news release. Users of the release should be aware |
| that small differences may exist between estimates in the news release|
| and those obtained directly from the revised public use microdata |
| file. |
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Technical Note
The data presented in this release were collected in March supplements
to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey conducted
by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data from
the CPS are used to obtain the monthly estimates of the nation's employment
and unemployment levels. Each March, additional questions are asked about
work activity during the prior calendar year. For instance, data collected
in March 2001 refer to the 2000 calendar year. Because the reference period
is a full year, the number of persons with some employment or unemployment
greatly exceeds the average levels for any given month, which are based on a
1-week reference period, and the corresponding annual average of the monthly
estimates. As shown below, for example, the number experiencing any unemploy-
ment during 2000 was over twice the number unemployed in an average month
during the year.
Employed Unemployed
2000 estimates (in thousands)
Annual average of
monthly estimates 135,208 5,655
March supplement data 148,572 12,258
In addition, estimates from the March supplement differ from those
obtained in the basic CPS because the questions used to classify workers
as either employed or unemployed are different. More important, perhaps,
is that fewer questions by which to categorize respondents are asked in
the supplement. In particular, the March supplement has no questions on
the type of job search activity or on the respondent's availability to work.
Also, individuals can be counted as both employed and unemployed in the work
experience data, whereas for a specific reference week, each person is only
counted in one category and employment activity takes precedence over job
search activity.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral
phone: 1-800-877-8339.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling
error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there
is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" population
values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies
depending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured
by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no
more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value because of
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level
of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of
the population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the
sample, inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct infor-
mation, and errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and
information on estimating standard errors, see the "Explanatory Notes and
Estimates of Error" section of Employment and Earnings.
- 2 -
Concepts and definitions
Persons who worked. In the March 2001 supplement, persons are considered
to have worked if they responded "yes" to either the question "Did you work
at a job or business at any time during 2000?" or "Did you do any
temporary, part-time, or seasonal work even for a few days during 2000?"
Unemployed persons. Persons who worked during the year but not in every
week are counted as unemployed if they also reported looking for work or
being on layoff from a job during the year. Those who reported no work
activity during the year are considered unemployed if they responded "yes"
to the question "Even though you did not work in 2000, did you spend any
time trying to find a job or on layoff?"
Labor force participants. Persons who either worked or were unemployed
during the year.
Usual full- and part-time employment. These data refer to the number of
hours a worker typically works during most weeks of the year. Workers are
classified as full time if they usually worked 35 hours or more in a week;
part-time employment refers to workers whose typical workweek was between
1 and 34 hours.
Year-round and part-year employment. Workers are classified as year
round if they worked 50 to 52 weeks. Part-year employment refers to
workers who worked fewer than 50 weeks.
Table 1. Work experience of the population during the year by sex and extent of employment, 1999-2000
Total Men Women
Extent of employment
1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000
Numbers (in thousands)
Civilian noninstitutional population............................ 209,067 211,180 100,418 101,513 108,649 109,667
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 149,042 149,996 78,236 78,842 70,806 71,154
Percent of the population................................... 71.3 71.0 77.9 77.7 65.2 64.9
Total who worked during the year(1)........................... 147,539 148,572 77,476 78,100 70,063 70,472
Percent of the population................................... 70.6 70.4 77.2 76.9 64.5 64.3
Full time(2)................................................ 118,368 119,824 67,698 68,239 50,669 51,585
50 to 52 weeks............................................ 97,248 99,615 56,901 58,098 40,346 41,517
48 to 49 weeks............................................ 2,190 2,181 1,217 1,246 973 935
40 to 47 weeks............................................ 5,634 5,479 2,916 2,703 2,718 2,776
27 to 39 weeks............................................ 4,449 4,390 2,252 2,129 2,198 2,261
14 to 26 weeks............................................ 5,060 4,821 2,485 2,376 2,575 2,445
1 to 13 weeks............................................. 3,787 3,339 1,927 1,688 1,860 1,651
Part time(3)................................................ 29,171 28,748 9,777 9,861 19,394 18,888
50 to 52 weeks............................................ 13,664 13,851 4,289 4,475 9,375 9,376
48 to 49 weeks............................................ 874 804 284 271 589 534
40 to 47 weeks............................................ 2,647 2,679 892 847 1,755 1,833
27 to 39 weeks............................................ 2,794 2,677 884 839 1,911 1,838
14 to 26 weeks............................................ 4,435 4,249 1,575 1,645 2,860 2,605
1 to 13 weeks............................................. 4,758 4,488 1,854 1,785 2,905 2,703
Percent distribution
Total who worked during the year(1)............................. 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).................................................. 80.2 80.7 87.4 87.4 72.3 73.2
50 to 52 weeks.............................................. 65.9 67.0 73.4 74.4 57.6 58.9
48 to 49 weeks.............................................. 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.3
40 to 47 weeks.............................................. 3.8 3.7 3.8 3.5 3.9 3.9
27 to 39 weeks.............................................. 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.7 3.1 3.2
14 to 26 weeks.............................................. 3.4 3.2 3.2 3.0 3.7 3.5
1 to 13 weeks............................................... 2.6 2.2 2.5 2.2 2.7 2.3
Part time(3).................................................. 19.8 19.3 12.6 12.6 27.7 26.8
50 to 52 weeks.............................................. 9.3 9.3 5.5 5.7 13.4 13.3
48 to 49 weeks.............................................. .6 .5 .4 .3 .8 .8
40 to 47 weeks.............................................. 1.8 1.8 1.2 1.1 2.5 2.6
27 to 39 weeks.............................................. 1.9 1.8 1.1 1.1 2.7 2.6
14 to 26 weeks.............................................. 3.0 2.9 2.0 2.1 4.1 3.7
1 to 13 weeks............................................... 3.2 3.0 2.4 2.3 4.1 3.8
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Usually worked 35 hours or more per week.
3 Usually worked 1 to 34 hours per week.
NOTE: Data refer to persons 16 years and over.
Table 2. Work experience of the population during the year by race, Hispanic origin, and sex, 1999-2000
(Numbers in thousands)
Total Men Women
Extent of employment, race, and Hispanic origin
1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000
WHITE
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 173,867 175,278 84,298 85,040 89,569 90,239
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 124,454 124,916 66,472 66,668 57,983 58,248
Percent of the population................................. 71.6 71.3 78.9 78.4 64.7 64.5
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 123,447 124,048 65,969 66,213 57,478 57,835
Percent of the population................................. 71.0 70.8 78.3 77.9 64.2 64.1
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 79.7 79.9 87.5 87.3 70.7 71.4
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 65.8 66.6 73.8 74.7 56.6 57.2
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 8.2 8.1 8.3 7.7 8.2 8.6
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 5.7 5.3 5.4 4.9 6.0 5.6
Part time(3).............................................. 20.3 20.1 12.5 12.7 29.3 28.6
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 9.6 9.8 5.5 5.8 14.3 14.4
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 4.5 4.4 2.7 2.6 6.5 6.4
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 6.2 5.9 4.3 4.3 8.5 7.7
BLACK
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 25,110 25,437 11,271 11,408 13,839 14,029
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 17,556 17,752 8,070 8,234 9,486 9,519
Percent of the population................................. 69.9 69.8 71.6 72.2 68.5 67.9
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 17,164 17,280 7,870 7,997 9,294 9,283
Percent of the population................................. 68.4 67.9 69.8 70.1 67.2 66.2
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 83.2 85.0 86.4 87.6 80.5 82.8
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 66.5 69.8 70.4 71.1 63.2 68.6
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 8.9 8.3 8.2 9.1 9.5 7.7
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 7.8 6.9 7.8 7.4 7.8 6.5
Part time(3).............................................. 16.8 15.0 13.6 12.4 19.5 17.2
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 7.3 6.0 5.7 4.7 8.6 7.1
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 3.3 2.9 2.3 2.0 4.1 3.7
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 6.2 6.1 5.6 5.8 6.8 6.3
HISPANIC ORIGIN
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 22,170 22,884 10,961 11,285 11,209 11,599
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 15,598 16,219 8,934 9,125 6,663 7,094
Percent of the population................................. 70.4 70.9 81.5 80.9 59.4 61.2
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 15,371 15,981 8,837 8,999 6,534 6,983
Percent of the population................................. 69.3 69.8 80.6 79.7 58.3 60.2
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 84.1 84.4 90.0 89.9 76.2 77.3
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 66.3 67.5 72.7 74.6 57.6 58.4
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 9.8 9.3 10.3 9.3 9.0 9.3
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 8.1 7.6 6.9 6.0 9.7 9.5
Part time(3).............................................. 15.9 15.6 10.0 10.1 23.8 22.7
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 8.0 7.6 5.0 4.9 11.9 11.0
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 2.7 3.0 1.6 1.7 4.3 4.8
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 5.2 5.0 3.4 3.5 7.5 6.9
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Usually worked 35 hours or more per week.
3 Usually worked 1 to 34 hours per week.
NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other
races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data refer
to persons 16 years and over.
Table 3. Extent of unemployment during the year by sex, 1999-2000
Total Men Women
Extent of unemployment
1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000
Numbers (in thousands)
Total who worked or looked for work............................. 149,042 149,996 78,236 78,842 70,806 71,154
Percent with unemployment..................................... 8.8 8.2 9.0 8.6 8.4 7.7
Total with unemployment....................................... 13,050 12,258 7,073 6,797 5,976 5,461
Did not work but looked for work............................ 1,503 1,424 760 742 743 682
1 to 14 weeks............................................. 751 621 344 313 407 308
15 weeks or more.......................................... 752 803 416 429 336 373
Worked during the year...................................... 11,547 10,834 6,313 6,055 5,234 4,779
Year-round workers(1) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment... 559 573 371 379 189 193
Part-year workers(2) with unemployment.................... 10,987 10,261 5,942 5,675 5,045 4,586
1 to 4 weeks............................................ 2,356 2,233 1,162 1,069 1,194 1,163
5 to 10 weeks........................................... 2,217 2,013 1,166 1,136 1,050 878
11 to 14 weeks.......................................... 1,591 1,501 934 876 657 625
15 to 26 weeks.......................................... 2,800 2,637 1,653 1,592 1,148 1,045
27 weeks or more........................................ 2,023 1,878 1,027 1,003 996 875
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers.............. 12.6 12.6 13.0 13.0 12.1 12.0
With 2 spells or more of unemployment..................... 3,225 3,079 1,845 1,807 1,379 1,272
2 spells................................................ 1,449 1,397 787 804 662 594
3 spells or more........................................ 1,776 1,682 1,058 1,004 717 678
Percent distribution
Did not work but looked for work................................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1 to 14 weeks................................................. 50.0 43.6 45.3 42.1 54.8 45.2
15 weeks or more.............................................. 50.0 56.4 54.7 57.9 45.2 54.8
Worked during the year.......................................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(1) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment....... 4.8 5.3 5.9 6.3 3.6 4.0
Part-year workers(2) with unemployment........................ 95.2 94.7 94.1 93.7 96.4 96.0
1 to 4 weeks................................................ 20.4 20.6 18.4 17.7 22.8 24.3
5 to 10 weeks............................................... 19.2 18.6 18.5 18.8 20.1 18.4
11 to 14 weeks.............................................. 13.8 13.9 14.8 14.5 12.6 13.1
15 to 26 weeks.............................................. 24.3 24.3 26.2 26.3 21.9 21.9
27 weeks or more............................................ 17.5 17.3 16.3 16.6 19.0 18.3
With 2 spells or more of unemployment......................... 27.9 28.4 29.2 29.9 26.4 26.6
2 spells.................................................... 12.5 12.9 12.5 13.3 12.6 12.4
3 spells or more............................................ 15.4 15.5 16.8 16.6 13.7 14.2
1 Worked 50 or 51 weeks.
2 Worked less than 50 weeks.
NOTE: Data refer to persons 16 years and over.
Table 4. Extent of unemployment during the year by race, Hispanic origin, and sex, 1999-2000
(Numbers in thousands)
Total Men Women
Extent of employment, race, and Hispanic origin
1999 2000 1999 2000 1999 2000
WHITE
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 124,454 124,916 66,472 66,668 57,983 58,248
Percent with unemployment................................... 8.2 7.6 8.6 8.0 7.7 7.1
Total with unemployment..................................... 10,176 9,461 5,714 5,313 4,462 4,147
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 1,007 868 503 455 504 413
Worked during the year.................................... 9,169 8,593 5,211 4,858 3,958 3,735
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 11.8 11.9 12.4 12.5 11.0 11.1
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.8 4.4 4.4
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 94.6 94.2 93.8 93.2 95.6 95.6
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 21.5 21.2 19.1 18.3 24.5 25.0
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 34.1 33.8 34.8 34.0 33.2 33.6
15 weeks or more...................................... 39.0 39.2 39.9 40.9 37.8 37.0
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 28.8 28.6 29.3 29.8 28.0 27.1
BLACK
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 17,556 17,752 8,070 8,234 9,486 9,519
Percent with unemployment................................... 12.6 12.1 12.6 14.0 12.5 10.5
Total with unemployment..................................... 2,206 2,155 1,017 1,156 1,188 998
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 392 473 199 237 192 236
Worked during the year.................................... 1,814 1,682 818 919 996 763
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 17.6 16.4 18.0 16.1 17.3 16.8
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 3.0 3.4 4.9 3.6 1.4 3.1
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 97.0 96.6 95.1 96.4 98.6 96.9
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 14.0 18.1 14.8 15.5 13.5 21.1
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 27.0 25.5 23.9 28.4 29.5 22.0
15 weeks or more...................................... 56.0 53.1 56.4 52.5 55.7 53.7
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 24.5 27.1 29.8 28.2 20.0 25.7
HISPANIC ORIGIN
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 15,598 16,219 8,934 9,125 6,663 7,094
Percent with unemployment................................... 11.3 10.5 11.4 10.9 11.2 10.0
Total with unemployment..................................... 1,768 1,706 1,021 994 747 712
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 227 238 98 126 129 111
Worked during the year.................................... 1,542 1,468 923 867 618 601
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 14.9 14.7 14.8 15.0 15.4 14.2
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 3.0 3.1 4.1 3.3 1.3 2.8
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 97.0 96.9 95.9 96.7 98.7 97.2
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 15.4 17.8 13.9 15.4 17.7 21.1
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 31.9 30.3 33.0 31.4 30.4 28.7
15 weeks or more...................................... 49.7 48.9 49.1 49.9 50.6 47.4
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 28.0 29.0 26.9 27.6 29.6 31.0
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Worked 50 or 51 weeks.
3 Worked less than 50 weeks.
NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races"
group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data refer to persons 16
years and over.